Experiment Station Record, Volume 92, January-June, 1945 Page: 402

                                
402                   EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD                     [Vol. 92
pastures, by the authors separately, indicated that defluorinated superphosphate
should substitute safely for steamed bonemeal for feeding livestock. On improved
pastures beef cattle refused to take plain defluorinated superphosphate. In mixtures
cattle preferred those with the larger proportions of salt. Dairy heifers on improved
pastures chose a mixture of salt and defluorinated superphosphate 7: 3
as compared with mixtures containing lesser proportions of salt. Dairy cows on
improved pastures adjacent to brackish water preferred a 3:7 mixture of salt
and defluorinated superphosphate. Pigs grazing peanuts ate slightly more of a
swine mineral mixture containing bonemeal than another group consumed of
the swine mineral mixture containing defluorinated superphosphate. The gains
were also better.
The effect of storage on the retention of certain members of the vitamin B
complex, C. C. LARDINOIS, C. A. ELVEHJEM, and E. B. HART. (Wis. Expt. Sta.).
(Jour. Dairy Sci., 27 (1944), No. 10, pp. 875-880).-Vitamin assays of 29 plant
products, including hays and grains, when new and after storage in the dark at
20o-25 C. for 1 yr., unground and ground, showed that there were no essential
losses in the thiamine, riboflavin, nicotinic acid, pantothenic acid, or biotin contents.
Grass and grass-alfalfa mixtures for beef production in eastern Washington,
M. E. ENSMINGER, H. G. MCDONALD, A. G. LAW, E. J. WARWICK, E. J. KREIZINGER,
and V. B. HAWK (Washington Sta. Bul. 444 (1944), pp. 24, illus. 5).-Calves
weighing approximately 500 lb. were purchased after weaning in the three falls of
1941-43 and wintered on rations high in roughage. They were pastured at the
rate of one steer per acre in 1941, and the rates of pasturing were adjusted to
maximum   beef production in 1942-43. The five pastures consisted of smooth
bromegrass; crested wheatgrass; smooth bromegrass and alfalfa; crested wheatgrass
and alfalfa; and smooth bromegrass, crested wheatgrass, and alfalfa. The
pastures were 4 acres each. Summer grazing was started when the vegetation was
about 6 in. high. Grazing at the rate of one steer per acre resulted in the pastures
of single grasses being completely utilized in about 60 days in 1941, whereas the
pastures of mixtures of grasses and alfalfa were considerably undergrazed. After
the summer grazing, the steers were finished in dry lot on grain and hay to grade
Choice to Good. Differences in the roughages or grains for wintering in different
years in which various grains were utilized suggested that winter gains of 1-1.5 lb.
per head per day seemed necessary to keep the cattle healthy and prevent loss of
condition. In 1941 the grass pastures plus 221 lb. of grain produced an average of
158 lb. of beef per acre. The grass-alfalfa pastures plus an average of 611 lb. of
grain produced an average of 331 lb. of beef per acre. In addition to the beef
produced, the grass-alfalfa pasture provided a grazing season that was about twice
as long as that provided by the single grasses.
Value of sorghum silage for beef production (Arkansas Sta. Bul. 443 (1944),
pp. 11-12).-In a 105-day feeding test with 10 Hereford calves in each of 4 lots
on 0.75 lb. per 100 lb. live weight of a grain mixture of ground yellow corn, cottonseed
meal, and minerals, the average daily gains of those receiving different sorghum
silages were Atlas sorgo 1.45 lb., Blackhull kafir and hegari 1.54 each, and Honey
sorgo 1.3 lb. Atlas sorgo also produced a higher yield of silage per acre. The
higher fiber content of the Honey sorgo silage probably accounted for its lower
feeding value.
Wheat for fattening calves, G. A. BRANAMAN (Michigan Sta. Quart. Bul., 27
(1944), No. 1, pp. 8-15).-Ground wheat as the only grain in rations with red
clover-alfalfa hay, with or without corn, soybean meal, and silage compared very
favorably with ground or shelled corn in rations for fattening calves in two experiments.
After feeding 112 days in the first experiment with 390-lb. calves, the
grains were reversed for 43 days. In a second experiment four lots of ten 425-lb.